I need to begin by saying that Guantanamo was and remains to be a huge disgrace for the United States of America and everything most of us feel we represent, things like freedom, human dignity, and the rights of man. This torture chamber dreamed up by Dick Cheney goes against all of that. Whatever problems I had with this film don't change the fact that I think this prison is disgusting, illegal, and immoral.
"My parents went to Pakistan and they saw a bride for me," are the first lines spoken by Asif in the film. And the bride? Perhaps a first cousin as is all too common amongst Pakistanis in flagrant disregard for the health risks their children will incur. Or perhaps she is a child also under the complete control of family. He decides to marry her after four days. OK, I think Asif really has to ask himself if England is a place where he feels comfortable living.
I'm not sure that turning this into a drama was the best road to take to Guantanamo, an illegal prison that I have opposed from the beginning. Using actors and putting this into a phony documentary format places it more alongside "This is Spinal Tap" than any of the better films in this genre. I am aware that documentaries made with nothing but archival footage can lie as well as in a dramatic recreation but I found it difficult to see the line in this between fact and fiction, where fiction is hearsay and the testimony of the four boys.
I still don't know if 100% of this was a dramatization or if they used any news clips. Dramatization or prevarication? The film lost any sense of verisimilitude once American soldiers were introduced because evidently the director didn't bother to ask any in the know about just what sort of uniforms and insignias American soldiers wear. Even the American accents were phony.
When they arrived at Guantanamo the Marines were the worse Marine impersonators ever.
A few unanswered questions: How did all of the men die who were in the truck? It looked as if at least half of those who entered had perished inside yet they don't say how.
"My parents went to Pakistan and they saw a bride for me," are the first lines spoken by Asif in the film. And the bride? Perhaps a first cousin as is all too common amongst Pakistanis in flagrant disregard for the health risks their children will incur. Or perhaps she is a child also under the complete control of family. He decides to marry her after four days. OK, I think Asif really has to ask himself if England is a place where he feels comfortable living.
I'm not sure that turning this into a drama was the best road to take to Guantanamo, an illegal prison that I have opposed from the beginning. Using actors and putting this into a phony documentary format places it more alongside "This is Spinal Tap" than any of the better films in this genre. I am aware that documentaries made with nothing but archival footage can lie as well as in a dramatic recreation but I found it difficult to see the line in this between fact and fiction, where fiction is hearsay and the testimony of the four boys.
I still don't know if 100% of this was a dramatization or if they used any news clips. Dramatization or prevarication? The film lost any sense of verisimilitude once American soldiers were introduced because evidently the director didn't bother to ask any in the know about just what sort of uniforms and insignias American soldiers wear. Even the American accents were phony.
When they arrived at Guantanamo the Marines were the worse Marine impersonators ever.
A few unanswered questions: How did all of the men die who were in the truck? It looked as if at least half of those who entered had perished inside yet they don't say how.